"Corrupt, dirty
and on the take"

Mini-CONvention of CONcreatures!

With the BC Rail Corruption Trial on hiatus (its usual state for almost seven years) until at least tomorrow, when it will either pick up where it left off, with Martyn Brown facing cross-examination, or we will learn of another delay, due to some secret reason, resulting in more denying and hiding the truth from the people of BC. Tonight I will focus on the other Canadian House of Infamy back in Ottawa. The big news out of the capital yesterday was the release the findings of Retired Justice Oliphant of the...

Commission of Inquiry into Certain Allegations
respecting Business and Financial Dealings
Between Karlheinz Schreiber and
the Right Honourable (winger), Brian Mulroney

The "Certain Allegations" in the title alludes to the limited nature of the inquiry. Perhaps it was a economic, budgetary matter as for a very limited in scope inquiry that was only to answer 17 questions, it cost the Canadian taxpayers $16,000,000. It these tough economic times, I guess we can't afford the (WHOLE) truth, much less "handle the truth!" Since Oliphant's Report stacks up to more than 800 pages, or slightly less than $20,000 per page, I won't reproduce the entire report here (or ever read it all) though a summary of yesterday's presentation can be found in the Globe and Mail. Some of Justice Oliphant's comments , further highlighted here and there by yours truly are:

The conduct exhibited by Mr. Mulroney in accepting cash-stuffed envelopes from Mr. Schreiber on three separate occasions, failing to record the fact of the cash payments, failing to deposit the cash into a bank or other financial institution, and failing to disclose the fact of the cash payments when given the opportunity to do so goes a long way, in my view, to supporting my position that the financial dealings between Mr. Schreiber and Mr. Mulroney were inappropriate

...../snip

I found that the business and financial dealings between Mr. Schreiber and Mr. Mulroney were inappropriate. I also found that Mr. Mulroney’s failure to disclose those business and financial dealings was inappropriate. Simply put, Mr. Mulroney, in his business and financial dealings with Mr. Schreiber, failed to live up to the standard of conduct that he had himself adopted in the 1985 Ethics Code.

...../snip

For Mr. Mulroney to attempt to justify his failure to make disclosure in those circumstances by asserting that [federal lawyer Claude] Sheppard did not ask the correct question is, in my view, patently absurd

Those discerning folks over at the Galloping Beaver weigh in on the Oliphant in the Room with a piece from which I took today's title, Corrupt, dirty and on the take.

So far it seems that the only indignity Mr. Mulroney will have to endure (other than waking up in the morning as himself) is being called "patently absurd" and being accused of "inappropriate" behaviour, repeatedly. I'm sure if you or I ripped off the Canadian Taxpayers for 2.1 million bucks by lying to Parliament and performing all the "inappropriate" stuff that made the lies necessary, we might find ourselves sharing accomodations with Clifford Olsen or Paul Bernardo (or Laird Con(man)rad Black).

If there was equal justice under the law in the banana republic of Canada, Mr. Jaw that Walks like a Man (credit - the Foth) would:

1. Have to pay back the settlement WITH INTEREST AND PENALTIES

2. Have to join the likes of Steve Fonyo and Alan Eagleson and return his Order of Canada

3. Be disbarred and lose the ability to practice (or pervert) the law FOR LIFE.

4. Have to face charges of perjury

The four items above would be just a start towards atonement for the man tied with Stephen Harper in polls as the worst Prime Minister in the last half century or so, but most likely having his feelings hurt will be the only cross he'll have to bear.

Calling MacFarlane Walter & Ross

If I were a senior editor/executive at MacFarlane Walter & Ross (assuming they still exist, the publishing business in Canada being what it is today) I would consider a paperback reprinting of Stevie Cameron's 1994 book On the Take .

She spins a tale of "Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Mulroney Years" (the book's subtitle) that runs to 512 pages, and only has room to mention of Karl-Heinz Schreiber on about SIX pages (313-14, 382-84, 386) plus his entry in the index, there being so much other corruption to deal with. (Since this book has been in print for 16 years with no libel/slander suits, it is likely that Ms. Cameron's allegations have the best defence of all - or can't be challenged because they are TRUE).

For $16,000,000, plus the $2.1 million for damaging his (not exactly gleeming) reputation, the Canadian public was allowed to see only the tip of the iceberg of Karl-Heinz specific/related sleaze - due to the limited scope of Oliphant's mandate. The other 99% of the sleaze under Lyin' Brian's watch was left completely untouched. And still the Jaw that walks like a Man tries to spin Oliphant's report as an exoneration.

Honour, respect and politics rarely belong in the same paragraph anymore, much less the same sentence or in proximity. But Brian Mulroney, the man who seemed to be more infatuated with Ronnie Raygun than dedicated to Canada and Canadians has in my estimation set the bar so low, that anyone who wants to go below his level had better bring a shovel, cuz mucho digging will be required.

But if anyone can do it, my money is on Stephen Harper!